The field of this invention relates to a temporary refrigerant and more particularly to a reusable ice pack which when frozen can be placed in a lunch pail, ice chest or other type of portable carrying container with the ice pack functioning to maintain the contents located within the carrying container in a refrigerated state.
The use of an ice pack which contains a refrigerant is known. The typical refrigerant would be a plastic gelatin which is confined within a plastic sheet material wall. Such ice packs are to be frozen within a freezer and then can be removed therefrom and relocated within an ice chest or other similar carrying container in order to maintain food stuffs cold.
There are two disadvantages of ice packs of the prior art. Although the prior art ice packs are satisfactory for enlarged carrying containers, such as ice chests, such are not readily usable within smaller carrying containers, such as a lunch box. Additionally, prior art ice packs have a tendency to accumulate moisture on the exterior surface of the ice pack. This moisture is readily absorbed by any food stuffs which comes into contact with the ice pack. This is most undesirable since many types of food stuffs, such as sandwiches, are not readily palatable in a soggy condition.